


always bring a friend

by inlovewithnight



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Group Sex, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 23:43:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5184200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithnight/pseuds/inlovewithnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Panthers play the Kings, it's time for Aaron to meet Willie and Megan's other partners, Jon and Jac Quick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	always bring a friend

**Author's Note:**

> For V and also V.

Aaron is stretched out on the deck, letting the sun hammer his back and half-listening to Willie sing along with the radio. The nice thing about moving out and getting his own place and learning to be independent or whatever he was doing this year—the nice thing was that when he comes over for time with Willie and Megan, it’s really aggressively _dedicated_ relaxation time. Peaceful time. Food and sex and being near each other time.

They’ve already had sex, soon there will be food, and he’s really enjoying this quiet time on the deck being near Willie, even if they aren’t touching or talking. They’re just hanging out. It’s awesome. Maybe after dinner there can be more sex, and then sleeping in a cuddlepile. As far as he’s concerned, there’s nothing better.

Megan comes out of the house and kisses the top of Willie’s head. “I bought my ticket.”

His voice trails off into a quiet rumble and he looks up at her. “What ticket?”

“To LA, doofus.” She kisses him again and wraps her arms around his shoulders, resting her chin on top of his head and looking down at Aaron. “For your game, remember? We talked about this.”

“Oh! Oh, right.” Willie leans back against her. “Did you talk to Jon and Jac?”

“Jac and I have been making plans since we agreed to do this.” She makes a face at him and turns her attention back to Aaron. After a moment, Willie does, too, and their combined stare prompts him to roll over onto his back.

“What?” he asks. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Willie says. “But we do have something to talk about with you.”

“Okay.” He sits up, wrapping his arms loosely around his knees. He’s still not totally used to _we need to talk_ being a neutral thing instead of a danger sign. It’s weird. But they always seem to mean it.

“You remember we told you about Jon and Jac?” Meg frees one hand and gestures in a twirly motion. “And us?”

Aaron nods. “You guys had a thing.”

“A relationship,” Willie corrects.

“A polyamorous relationship,” Aaron obediently recites, then shrugs. “But you stopped when you left LA.”

“The physical relationship stopped by default,” Megan says. “But we still care about them very much. They’re part of our lives.”

“I know.” And the physical stuff didn’t _totally_ stop, he knows that, too; he knows that when they played in LA last season, Willie was conspicuously absent from the after-game team activities, and that when the Kings were in Sunrise, Aaron was magically shuffled off to crash with Sasha.

Those trips were both before he got, like… _involved_ with them, though. Before he got them to take things to the next level. So maybe this season is going to be different. Maybe they’re going to tell him honestly that they’re kicking him out so they can hook up with their exes.

“We’ve told them about you, too,” Willie says. “That we’re in a relationship, too.”

Aaron’s face heats and he ducks his head. “Oh.”

“Honey.” Megan sighs. “We’re not ashamed of you. Just… discretion is good.”

“I know. I know.” He _does_. They’ve talked about discretion like fifty thousand times. He gets it. He just didn’t know they would actually tell anybody, like he... like he matters, or he has a right to be here, or anything.

“So.” Willie has a look on his face like he’s determined to get through what he planned to say no matter how much they try to distract him. “We thought it would be nice to get all of us together. All five.”

“You mean, like, for dinner?”

“Yeah. Dinner after the game, and spend some time together.” Willie glances up at Megan when he says the last part, and her mouth twitches, and oh. Oh, _wow_.

“We’re going to have an _orgy_ ,” Aaron blurts out.

Willie closes his eyes tightly. “It’s not an orgy, it’s just—”

“I don’t think you can say fivesome.” Megan frowns. “If it’s not an orgy, is it just… group sex? What?”

“There’s not necessarily going to be _any_ sex. Only if everyone is comfortable—”

“Jac is comfortable.”

Willie sighs. “She doesn’t know that, she hasn’t even met him.”

“Neither has Jon, but I know for a fact you’ve told him—”

“Wait.” Aaron sits up straighter. “You’ve talked to them about me? Like, _details_?” The look on their faces is enough of an answer. “Wow, that’s bullshit, you haven’t told me _anything_ about them.”

“We have!” Willie does a weird hand-flapping thing that’s his equivalent of Megan’s twirling gesture. They’re so _weird_. He loves them so much. “We’ve told you stuff.”

“Not sex stuff!”

“Oh.” He looks at Megan, then back to Aaron. “Well, I guess not, but—”

Aaron shakes his head and stands up, taking his time so they can check him out. He’s not dumb. He knows they like to look at him. “You’re gonna have to make this up to me. After dinner.”

Meg’s eyes narrow a little. “Do you ever get the feeling that we’re being manipulated, Will?”

“Every day.” Willie shakes his head and slaps Aaron’s ass as he walks past them into the house. “But I don’t really mind.”

**

Aaron pays attention this time, when they cross paths with the Kings before the game. Most of the two teams ignore each other, but Willie and Quick both step away from their teammates and exchange a hug and a few words off to one side. 

Aaron lingers nearby, not quite close enough to hear what they’re saying but pretty obviously hoping they’ll notice him. He stares at Willie openly, waiting for his attention. If he’s going to have sex with Quick and his wife later, he should at least be _introduced_ , he’s pretty sure. That’s just polite.

Willie finally looks up and sees him staring. “Oh. Eks, c’mere, say hi to Jon. Quickie, this is Aaron, you know, Aaron Ekblad.”

“Rookie of the year. Yeah, I’ve heard of him.” Quick smiles and offers Aaron his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Aaron mumbles, shaking his hand, feeling awkward and weird. Who says _likewise_? Fuck. “I hope it’s not, uh. Inconvenient. That I’m here.”

“Ask me that after the game.” Quick grins and glances down the hall after his team. “I mean, it kinda depends on the final score.”

“It does not, c’mon.” Willie rolls his eyes and touches Aaron on the arm, nudging him a step back in the direction of their locker room. “He’s glad you’re here, Eks. Promise.”

“I really am. And so is Jac.” Quick laughs a little and Aaron’s face warms, because oh _god_ , it’s real enough that they can joke about it. “Okay. See you boys on the ice.”

“Be ready for it,” Willie says, miming a punch at him. “Cats are coming.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Quick waves dismissively at them and walks away. Aaron watches him go, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“You okay?” Willie asks quietly, steering him down the hall.

“I think so?” Aaron shakes his head, trying to find his focus. They have a game to play. He can’t think about any of this now; it needs to go on pause for the next few hours. “I mean, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Willie says, squeezing Aaron’s arm. “Everything’s going to be great.”

Aaron can’t remember a single time in his life when someone saying _don’t worry about it_ actually made him not worry about it. But he puts on a smile, nods, and makes his way to his stall. The worrying has to wait until after the game, anyway.

**

Thank god he’s learned by now about leaving the game in the room, because that was a miserable fucking experience and bringing it with him would definitely ruin dinner.

**

The Quicks have a really nice house. Aaron isn’t into architecture and house porn and decorating like Willie and Megan are, but he’s absorbed enough by osmosis that he knows this is a very nice house, and it’s exactly in the style they like. It’s probably a lot like what their dream house will look like when they get it built, once Willie is retired and gone from Aaron’s life like he was never there. Thinking about that makes Aaron’s stomach hurt.

He hangs back in the entryway while Jac and Megan kiss Quick—Jon, they’re out in the real world now, he should be Jon—and Willie hello, respectively, then swap and kiss the other one. They’re very enthusiastic kisses, and _warm_ , obviously between people who know each other well and are comfortable and happy and safe together. Aaron feels about a hundred miles outside of the little circle they make. He is neither comfortable, happy, nor safe. He doesn’t fit here.

Jac turns to him and smiles. “Aaron, hi! Please, take off your coat, your shoes, make yourself at home.”

“Thank you.” He glances at Willie and Megan for… something. Support, reassurance, a sign that they still want him here and aren’t having regrets. Meg smiles at him, but Willie is talking to Jon, leaning in close and gesturing about something that’s either a fish or, like. A dick. Aaron doesn’t know, but even the possibility makes his face hurt from blushing.

He takes his shoes off, hangs his jacket on the rack, and resumes hanging back like the fifth wheel he absolutely is. Jac slips off toward the kitchen and Megan follows, calling out something about opening the wine. Aaron definitely could use some. And a place to sit down.

Jon’s hand lands on his shoulder, heavy and warm. “Let’s go into the living room. You had a lot of ice time.”

“Pretty normal,” Aaron mutters, but he falls into step behind Jon as he leads them to the living room. Willie’s hand brushes against the small of Aaron’s back, light and reassuring, and he manages to take a few normal breaths before he’s pointed to a seat on the couch. He can do this. It’s just hanging out with another player. He does that all the time.

Jac and Megan reappear with glasses of wine and a tray of appetizers, like this is an _event_ or something, they’re so weird. Meg rumples his hair with her free hand when she gives him his wine, smiling at him like she knows exactly how nervous he is. “You okay, honey?”

“Fine,” he says, and drains half the wineglass in one swallow. She slides her hand down from his hair to his jaw, tracing gently over his skin.

“This is up to you,” she says softly. “If you decide you don’t want to, that’s _fine_. Nobody will be upset.”

“It’s fine. Everything is fine.” He takes another drink, just a sip this time. “I’m good. Great.”

She doesn’t quite roll her eyes, but then Jac is there offering him appetizers, and he shifts his attention to those. Little tiny quiches. He remembers Megan reading that recipe aloud to him when she found it. He takes three.

The pre-dinner conversation shifts around between real estate, politics, and their mutual friends in LA, both on the Kings and not. Aaron tunes most of it out, focusing on his wine and the quiches, which are just as awesome as he knew they would be. He ends up eating five before he remembers that he shouldn’t be greedy before dinner. Not that anyone seems to mind, or actually be paying attention to him at all. He’s definitely outside the circle again. The wine helps him not mind so much, and anyway, being outside means he can observe. He can study them like they’re wild animals and nobody will mind.

Jon and Jac are definitely hot. He likes how relaxed they are, with each other and with Willie and Megan; there’s no tension in the room except his own nervousness. If he manages to beat that into submission with wine, there’s no reason this can’t all happen easily.

On the other hand, if he gets too drunk everyone here might suddenly go parental on him and decide to cancel the whole thing. Fuck. He can’t win.

The beep of a timer comes from the kitchen and Jac and Megan hurry off to tend to it. Willie gets to his feet and offers Jon his hand, tugging him up off the couch. 

“That’s our cue to go get the table ready,” he says, looking over at Aaron. “You want to help or wait out here?”

“I’ll help.” Aaron finishes the last of his current glass of wine. “Just show me what to do.”

He ends up placing silverware around the table, which is a nice mindless thing. Willie and Jon set up plates and napkins, talking softly and bumping into each other and smiling a lot. Aaron watches them out of the corner of his eye, wondering how anyone in LA could have missed them being together. They pretty much set off beacons.

Megan comes out of the kitchen with a side dish. “This looks great. Thanks, boys.”

“When do we get to be men?” Jon asks, and Willie starts giggling, and Aaron feels like the floor is falling out from under him. Special jokes and long histories. How is he supposed to compete with that?

“Where can I wash my hands?” he asks, keeping his eyes averted so he’s not asking anyone in particular. 

“Right down the hall there, babe,” Megan says, and he bolts from the room.

In the bathroom is better; he locks the door, turns the sink on for noise, and sits on the toilet with his head in his hands. This was so stupid. He should have known better. He feels as out of place and awkward as when Lu lost his stick and he gave him his and then just had to skate around without one. He is definitely stickless in this situation, too.

He digs his fingers into his hair and tugs a little, trying to pull himself together and find his focus. Options. Identify options. 

One: say he isn’t feeling well and get a cab back to the hotel. Upside: no longer being here. Downside: Willie will probably insist on going with him, Megan will worry, he’ll make everything weird.

Two: suck it up and deal with it. Upside: not making anything weird. Downside: he might die.

So that was a useless exercise.

A soft knock comes at the door and he jerks upright. “Yeah?”

“It’s me, kid.” Willie’s voice is warm and concerned. “You okay in there?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Can I come in?”

That means Willie doesn’t buy that he’s fine at all. Awesome. He gets off the toilet and goes over to unlock the door. “I’m okay, Mitchie, just—”

Willie steps in and closes the door behind him. “You kinda look like you want to puke.”

Aaron sighs. “I’m nervous.”

“I know you are.” Willie rests his hands on Aaron’s shoulders, looking him steadily in the eyes. “It’s okay.”

“I know it’s okay, but I can’t—”

“I mean it’s okay to be nervous.” Willie leans in and rests their foreheads together. “It’s a new thing. It’s different. I was hoping we’d come in on a win so you would be all cocky and swaggering and have your dick hard already, but that’s not how it went.”

Aaron laughs a little, relaxing despite himself. Willie _gets_ him. “That game definitely did not get my dick hard.”

“Come have dinner and all of us will get your dick hard together.”

“That makes it sound kind of overwhelming.”

“Mm. It is. But in a good way, I promise.” Willie kisses him then, slow and warm, and speaking of overwhelming, it shuts Aaron’s brain up for as long as it lasts. Willie’s hands are still on his shoulders, grounding him, and his own hands move to Willie’s waist of their own volition. It’s a good full-body reminder of what they have, why he’s here, what it means.

“Come have dinner,” Willie says, pressing a quick, light kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Aaron catches Willie’s hand and lets him lead him back down the hall to the dining room, where the others are sitting and talking softly, wineglasses in hand, food untouched.

Aaron winces. “Sorry.”

“No problem at all,” Jac says. “Most of this is better if you let it sit for a few minutes anyway. Meg, can you start passing the greens?”

The food is really good, of course, and dinner passes without making him any more nervous than he was. Meg and Willie keep touching him under the table, or smiling at him, and he appreciates that, even if he still can’t really find his way into the conversations. 

Jon asks him a hockey question once, but Meg and Jac smoothly shut it down. “No shop talk at the table, boys,” Jac says, and Meg waves her fork at them both in a no-no gesture. Aaron gets it, but it kind of banishes him back to conversational Siberia. If this keeps up he’ll have to get his phone out and start liking Instagram pictures from all the pretty models he met in the bars in Anaheim and San Jose.

Thinking about the girls is a good distraction, actually. And it definitely moves his brain and dick in the direction they’re supposed to be going this evening. That can be his warm-up for the game that’s coming after dinner, and wow, that’s such a dumb and perfect metaphor that he starts giggling to himself over his last few bites of braised duck.

“What’s funny?” Willie asks softly, bumping their knees together under the table.

“Nothing,” Aaron says, but he bumps Willie back and smiles at him. 

Willie returns the smile and leans in closer to murmur in Aaron’s ear. “You feel better?”

“Yeah.”

“Less nervous?”

“I think so.”

Willie turns his head further, his lips brushing against Aaron’s ear. “You thinking about what you want?”

“I get to pick?”

“Absolutely. Tonight is all about what you want.”

Aaron glances down the table, where Meg and Jac are breaking apart one of the duck breasts with their forks and talking about it. “Do, um, do they ever…”

Willie laughs out loud and draws all the attention right down to them. So much for subtlety. “Shut up,” Aaron mutters, reaching for his wineglass again. “Jesus. I was just _asking_.”

“You’re so predictable. I love it. The answer is yes, by the way.” Willie squeezes his knee and settles back in his chair. “Keep eating,” he says, waving at the others. “No big deal.”

It is such a big deal, Aaron thinks helplessly, but the nervousness is rapidly losing ground to pure anticipation. He’s starting to think he might be ready for this after all.

**

The bed is not actually big enough for five people. Aaron hesitates just inside the bedroom door, staring at it and wondering how this works logistically, but the others are already easily moving forward, tugging off their shirts and undoing buttons and zippers as they go.

Jac catches Willie’s hands and backs him up to the bed, laughing softly as he topples down on the mattress and lets her climb on top of him. They kiss, his hands going directly to her breasts, and Aaron feels like his heart is stuttering just watching them. _Oh_. They look good together.

He jumps, startled, when Megan threads her fingers with his and tugs him toward the bed as well. “Get closer,” she says with a little smile. “You don’t just have to look. You can touch.”

“Anyone? Anywhere?”

“Yeah.” She guides him to sit on the edge of the mattress. “If anybody doesn’t like something—and that includes you—then they just say so, and we stop doing that and try something else. That’s the rule.”

“That makes sense.” He glances past her at Jon, who’s still standing in the doorway, watching and smiling. 

“Arms up,” Megan says, and he realizes a beat late that she’s trying to undress him. He fumbles to catch up with the rest of them, naked and unselfconscious about it. Jac and Willie are still making out, touching and giggling and kissing. It’s hard for Aaron not to stare at them. This isn’t like porn, it’s just… relaxed. Fun.

He jumps a little when a hand settles on his arm, too broad and heavy to be Megan’s. “Hey,” Jon says, and then hesitates a moment. Aaron only realizes that he was giving him a chance to pull away when Jon leans in and kisses him. He’s glad he didn’t pull away—Jon is a good kisser, and after a minute Aaron relaxes into it, settling his hands carefully on Jon’s hips.

“Nice,” Meg says approvingly, very much the good hostess, and Aaron hears Willie and Jac both laugh at her. She sticks her tongue out at them and Willie reaches out to grab her and pull her down with them. Aaron loses track after that, because Jon takes advantage of Megan moving to step into the vee of Aaron’s legs and then get to his knees.

“Okay?” he asks, looking up to meet Aaron’s eyes. Aaron’s throat is dry, his heart racing, and when Jon rests his hands on Aaron’s thighs and rubs slowly up and down, he’s pretty sure he actually loses a few seconds of time.

“Yeah,” he finally answers. “Yeah, it’s… it’s okay.”

Jon takes him in his mouth and officially becomes the second guy he’s gotten a blowjob from sober, after Willie. Aaron grips the edge of the bed with both hands and doesn’t let himself close his eyes; he wants to watch, wants to learn and remember. Jon’s hands are warm on his thighs, and then one slips down to cup at his balls and tease all the delicate skin. It makes Aaron’s stomach tighten, all anticipation and heat, and he moans a little, clenching his ass and legs to keep from thrusting up into Jon’s mouth.

Jon pulls off and grins at him. “You can move. You can touch me. It’s cool.”

“You sure?” Aaron’s surprised at how wrecked his own voice sounds. He hasn’t even _done_ anything yet.

“Do Meg and Willie make you be this polite all the time?” Jac asks, reaching out to trail her fingers down Aaron’s thigh to Jon’s hand. “We’re not quite as stuck-up as they are, it’s okay to have fun here—hey!” She breaks off giggling as Willie growls and rolls her over and Meg does—something, Aaron can’t see, but the way her laughter changes to a breathless moan gives him a pretty good idea.

Jon’s mouth closes around him again and Aaron lets his hips roll up this time. Jon is touching him between his legs again, gentle and teasing, just enough to keep him from really getting lost. 

Someone’s hand curves along his jaw and turns his head away from Jon. It’s Jac, claiming his mouth in a kiss, and he has a dizzying moment of realizing that he can smell Willie’s body wash or aftershave or—or something, a smell he knows is part of Willie, caught in her hair. She’s kissing him and her husband is going down on him and Meg and Willie must both be watching it happen. 

Imagining how they look watching him is enough to put him over the edge, embarrassingly fast but nobody seems to mind. Jon swallows him down and pulls off with a wet, hot sound that sends another jolt through Aaron’s body. Jac kisses him again and then crawls to the edge of the bed to kiss Jon, leaning across Aaron’s thigh so her breasts press against him. 

Meg reaches out and brushes her hand over Aaron’s mouth. “Hey.” He kisses her fingertips and blinks at her, still too overwhelmed to quite manage words, and she laughs softly. “God, you look good all messed up. Doesn’t he, Will?”

“He does.” Willie is stroking himself lazily while he watches, stretched out on the bed with one knee pulled up. “You should mess him up some more.”

“What did you have in mind?”

Jac laughs and sits up, tugging at Jon’s hair until he climbs up on the bed with them. Aaron was wrong before; there is room for all five, if they’re cool with limbs overlapping. Which everyone really obviously is. “Stop talking about it and do something, Meg, or I might beat you to it.”

“You’re such a brat.” Meg laughs and swings her leg over Aaron’s chest, straddling him and looking down at him thoughtfully. “You want me?”

Aaron rests his hands on her hips and nods, licking his lips and steadying her while she moves forward to sit on his face. She braces her hands on either side of his head, leaning down over him, and his world narrows to her skin, her breasts, her cunt hot and salty-wet under his tongue. The bed shifts under them as the other three move, and he can hear giggles and whispers and soft wet noises, but he can’t think about anything but Megan. 

Hands and other body parts brush against him, not deliberately teasing but _there_ , and he keeps tensing and shivering despite himself. His dick is firming up again, wired to respond to the sounds, smells, tastes, _touch_ , all of it, so much, everywhere around him.

Megan comes with a shudder, grinding down against his mouth, and he drops his hands from her hips to his own thighs to keep from gripping on too hard. She eases off him and flops down on the bed, sweaty and flushed and smiling, running her fingers over his beard to wipe her own wetness away.

He smiles back at her and kisses her hand, then gets distracted, because oh—Willie is on his knees, head resting on his crossed forearms against the bed, and Jon is—Jon is _fucking_ him, thrusting steady and hard and deep, sweat dripping from his forehead onto Willie’s back. Aaron’s never seen Willie get fucked, never even _thought_ about Willie getting fucked. He would have said that it wasn’t something that should even be able to exist, except now that he is seeing it, it’s really right. It’s beautiful.

Jac’s collapsed back against the pillows, fingers curled between her thighs, and Meg crawls up to kiss her. Aaron lies there, trying to watch both pairs of them at once, feeling his dick getting harder. He doesn’t touch it; he wants to draw this out a little longer, wants to enjoy every minute of it. Willie is moaning, low and ragged, and Megan and Jac are giggling together, and Jon is whispering Willie’s name like it’s something special. Aaron is—Aaron is a little bit outside again, not part of the circle, but it’s okay, right now, because it’s so amazing that he’s allowed to be here and watch at all.

“Aaron,” Megan says, and he looks up, startled, biting his lip when he sees that _her_ fingers are between Jac’s legs now, and Jac’s head is thrown back, her throat bare and sweaty. “She needs a little more, I think. She needs your dick. Can you come up here?”

“Uh.” He swallows, his eyes flicking back to Willie and Jon, but they’re still all wrapped up in each other, Jon’s face pressed to Willie’s shoulder and his hips working frantic and fast. Willie isn’t even moaning anymore, just making rough _uh uh uh_ noises. It makes Aaron’s dick jerk, curved up against his stomach, and yeah, yes, okay, he needs to be in Jac, too.

He crawls up to the women and Megan helps him into position, raking her nails lightly down his back to his ass and then reaching down to guide his dick in. Jac is dripping wet, so hot and sensitive she shudders around him as soon as he pushes in. Megan touches both of them, talking constantly, a stream of encouraging nonsense that he can’t even begin to parse because he’s trying to find a rhythm and get deep enough to stop feeling raw mindless need.

The bed shifts again, and he’s vaguely aware of someone moving around the room, walking away from the bed and coming back. It’s a blur at the corner of his vision, barely worth acknowledging because his focus belongs to Jac’s body around and under him, hot and wet and telling him to give _more_.

Jon and Willie are talking now, too, and another hand is stroking Aaron’s back, pushing a little like they’re trying to help him go deeper. Jac cries out and tightens around him, he scrambles to find his balance and thrust again, faster, more, and then he’s coming again, slumping against her with his heart thudding in his ears.

After a moment he feels a towel wiping down the back of his thighs, cleaning up the mixture of sweat and fluid running down them, and he stirs himself to pull out of Jac and turn onto his back. Jon’s kneeling there with the towel in his hand, half-smiling at him. “Sorry.”

“’s fine,” Aaron mumbles, rubbing his face. “’s good. Um.”

“Catch your breath.” Jon laughs a little and moves closer, pressing kisses along Jac’s leg. “You good, babe?”

“Very good.” Jac’s head is resting on Megan’s chest, and they both look ridiculously fucking satisfied. Aaron realizes he gets some of the credit for that, and puts his hand over his face again, hiding any expressions he might accidentally make while he waits for his heart to calm down.

“Will’s getting a round of drinks for everybody,” Jon says, grinning. “A toast to successfully debauching the kid here.”

“Oh my god,” Aaron says.

Megan ruffles his hair. “Do you feel debauched?”

“I feel good.”

Jon laughs out loud. “Well, thank god for that.”

Willie comes in before Aaron can think of a response, so he lets it go, accepting his glass of whatever concoction Willie put together at the Quicks’ bar and downing it as fast as he can.

“You guys sleeping here tonight?” Jac asks, stifling a yawn against Megan’s shoulder.

Willie shakes his head. “Got a hotel curfew. We need to get back pretty soon, actually.”

Megan makes a face at him. “That sucks.”

“Take it up with Gerard and Dale, hon.”

“I might.” She finishes her drink and stretches out, curling and uncurling her toes against Aaron’s leg. “I could offer to come with you, but I would rather not.”

Everyone laughs, and Aaron rests his head against Willie’s arm for a moment, soaking up his steady presence before climbing out of the bed to look for his clothes.

He and Willie both get dressed in haphazard fashion, buttons half-done and underwear and socks optional. Willie kisses Meg goodbye and Aaron waves awkwardly to the Quicks, and then they walk out of the house alone while Willie orders an Uber.

“So,” Willie says after a moment. “What did you think?”

“Um.”

Willie looks up, frowning. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Just…” Aaron tries not to smile. “You don’t have old friends in Minnesota and Vancouver, too, by any chance, do you? We don’t get out to LA that often, you know.”

Willie rolls his eyes and laughs, the sound echoing down the late-night street. “You’re such a brat.”

“I’m your brat,” Aaron says sincerely, and Willie throws his arm around his shoulder, pulling him close while they wait.


End file.
